HOLMBERG: OMG! Wegmans coming to RVA! Worth the hype?

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RICHMOND, Va. (WTVR) -- The buzz over two Wegman’s grocery stores coming to Richmond is such that unbelievers are mocking all the rock star-like fuss. One Facebook post noted that you’re very Richmond if you get excited over a new grocery coming to town.

There’s been such a hunger here for the store that we ran into several people who regularly trek to the Fredericksburg Wegmans to shop and will delighted to patronize either the Chesterfield or far western Henrico location. It’s unclear when they will be built and opened, but they should employ more than 500 people at each store.

Wegmans is the top-rated grocery in the land, famed for selection, quality and customer service. The nearly 100-year-old family business is believed to be the first grocery to feature one-stop shopping – groceries, medicines, cooking utensils, sit-down dinners, etc.

It is also consistently rated among the very best employers in the nation.

Robert Wegman, who died in the 2006, was the one who turned the existing family business into an empire. You can read his New York Times obituary here.

But the news here has not all been all hugs and kisses.

Numerous city residents are wondering why the firm chose to locate its new stores in the distant ‘burbs already crowded with chain groceries when downtown, midtown and east Richmond are starved for stores.

I went up to the Fredericksburg Wegmans to see what the fuss is all about. It is huge, with tremendous variety – 3,000 brands of wine from all around the world, for example (Click the video to go along with me on the tour).

It’s clean, with plenty of help ready to assist or answer your questions. There are several different eat-in meal options, including an Asian buffet and a sit down restaurant. It’s seems like it’s got the best parts of Harris Teeter and Whole Foods with a nod to Wal-Mart variety and sprawl with lots of that old Ukrops flavor. (Yes, I like grocery shopping.)

Is it really worth all this fuss? Not way out in Chesterfield and Short Pump, in my view. (Perhaps it would’ve been a great anchor store for the planned retail district that would go on the Boulevard if the baseball Diamond is ever moved to Shockoe Bottom, as the mayor wants to do.)

But yes, it’s cool that a family-owned, employee-friendly company can continue to succeed and expand in this culture of mega-corporations and big-box retailers that answer to shareholders first. I mean, 1,100 or 1,200 new jobs in the area is nothing to sneeze at.

For the true devotees, here’s the “Wegmans History Timeline”;

1916- John Wegman opens the Rochester Fruit & Vegetable Company. He is joined by his brother Walter a year later.

1921- John and Walter Wegman purchase the Seel Grocery Co. and expand operations to include general groceries and bakery operations.

1992- Food You Feel Good About program is introduced in Bakery Departments.

1992- A new 105,000 square-foot office building opens in Rochester, NY on Wegmans Market Street.

1992- First Market Cafe opens in Wegmans Corning store.

1993- First Wegmans store outside New York State opens in June in Erie, PA.

1995- Wegmans is chosen one of the "Best of the Best" Supply Chain Management Practitioners.

1996- Wegmans launches its website.

1997- On April 1, 1997, Robert B. Wegman, Wegmans Food Markets esteemed chairman of the board and the person who built Wegmans into one of the most respected food retailers in the business, celebrated 60 years of service to the Wegmans organization.

1999- Wegmans opens its first New Jersey store in West Windsor, NJ.

1999- Robert Wegman raises the purse again for the annual LPGA Wegmans Rochester International to $1 million for 1999.

1999- Wegmans and the Buffalo Bills form a five-year marketing partnership.

2000- Wegmans' weekly specials go online, with a feature that allows customers to build a shopping list by store layout.

2000- Wegmans opens store in Bridgewater, NJ.

2001- Wegmans makes Fortune’s Top 100 Companies list for the 5th year in a row. This year 279 companies vied for a place on the list. Wegmans ranked 68th.

2002- Golden Shopping Cart Award for Best Supermarket.

2002- Wegmans announces future expansion into Virginia and Maryland.

2003- Wegmans is named the “Most Family-Friendly Supermarket in America” according to Childmagazine.

2003- Wegmans was awarded the prestigious Black Pearl award.

2004- Wegmans earns the number 9 ranking on FORTUNE Magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”.

2004- Wegmans enters the Virginia market with the opening of Wegmans Dulles.

2004- Wegmans Retail Service Center in Pottsville, PA opens. Produce items from this facility will be shipped to expanding market stores.

2004- Wegmans opens its fifth New Jersey store in five years with the grand opening of Wegmans Ocean.

2005- Wegmans becomes the #1 Company to Work For. Wegmans in its 8th year being recognized, is named number one by FORTUNE Magazine’s list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For”.

2005- Wegmans adds another store to the state of Virginia with the grand opening of Wegmans Fairfax.

2005- Robert Wegman donates $5 million dollars to St. John Fisher College in Rochester to open the Wegmans School of Pharmacy. With this donation, a school will be up and running in the fall of 2006 for young students looking to pursue a career in Pharmacy.

2005- Wegmans Retail Service Center in Pottsville, Pennsylvania opens its grocery side of the distribution facility.

2005- Wegmans Hunt Valley becomes Wegmans’ 69th store and the first for the state of Maryland.

2005- Wegmans announces the closing of the Chase-Pitkin Home and Garden Centers.

2006- Wegmans is named to FORTUNE magazine’s 2006 list of the “100 Best Companies to Work For,” this year ranking #2. This marks the ninth consecutive year Wegmans has appeared on the annual list and its fourth year ranked among the top 10.

2007- Wegmans celebrates 10 years of being on Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” This year, Wegmans ranked #3 on the list.

2008- Wegmans celebrates 11 years of being on Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” This year, Wegmans ranked #3 on the list.

2009- Wegmans celebrates 12 years of being on Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” This year, Wegmans ranked #5 on the list.

2010- Wegmans celebrates 13 years of being on Fortune magazine’s “100 Best Companies to Work For.” This year, Wegmans ranked #3 on the list.

11 comments

As a Richmond transplant, I was baffled at Richmond’s fascination for Ukrops. I never really saw what all the fuss was about. Most of the stores were small and old and the the selection was average for what you’d find in most metro areas. I could care less if someone accompanied me to my car to unload groceries. I suspect this was more of an issue of avoiding the liability of shopping cart damage to cars in very small parking lots packaged under the guise of “customer service”. I also don’t think that a cashier acknowledging a customer in their checkout line is all that special unless you’re comparing it to the grunts you’ll receive from Walmart or Food Lion cashiers.

Wegmans…big deal. Yes the stores are nice and big and they carry 90% of what can be found in your neighborhood Kroger. Come on folks…it’s only a grocery store.

Morning Dew

pnnysvr

Wegmans is a high end grocery chain for those of you who have never had an opportunity to shop in one. It is better than the bigger, newer Ukrops were when they were here. Now I would compare Wegmans to the NEW Kroger Marketplace, only much better. After a year or so, the NEW Kroger Marketplace will be just like any other Kroger grocery store. Wegmas, on the other hand, will always be just that, Wegmans. Wegmans employees always go the extra mile for the customer; the service exceptional (as well as all store products) and that is one reason they rate so high on the Fortune Magazine “100 Best Companies to work for” year after year.

I know they did their homework when deciding to put a store in Short Pump… go where the money is.

I myself love Wegmans but I will not fight the traffic in Short Pump just to go there. I will put it on my list for when I need to be in that area for other shopping. It will be well worth the stop!

Wegmans is great! My favorite things are the pizza, the fresh fish, the fruit tart, and the wine selections. They do have everything and there is something that each person will find in the store that they like or have to have. My children like to go in during the holiday season because in Fredericksburg, they have a choo-choo train on a track in the ceiling….keeps them entertained. But they have bulk foods as well and the best prices if you need a lot of meats. There is no doubt that when Wegmans comes to RVA, it will be packed with shoppers. Oh and don’t forget to get the colorful resuable shopping bags. I get one every time I’m there and they are a great use for any kind of shopping. Have fun at Wegmans RVA!!

It now is learned that Wegman’s only opens 2-3 stores a year, so there is still hope for those of us in other parts of town. Once they see how much money they can make in the two locations, they will hopefully expand Eastward.

Let me weigh in on this “amazing breaking news”…but first a disclosure that I could care LESS about new grocery stores..it’s new RESTAURANTS that delight the heck out of me. So, that said, read THIS:
Kroger and Martins have given back to our community in big ways. They sponsor all kinds of wonderful things and have tied themselves in a significant way PHILANTHROPICALLY to our community. Customer loyalty breeds corporate giving at the local level. So to all of you who can’t wait to dump Kroger / Martins in favor of Wegmans, perhaps you should research all that Kroger/Martins has contributed to our community and then phone Wegmans and ask what their plans are to give back. I predict that a one-location superstore won’t be able to light a candle to the donations and community partnerships that Kroger and Martins have made. I think it’s time that people consider more than just being able to have 1,000 brands of peas to choose from when deciding where to spend their money. I, for one, will stick with those who have supported my community in significant ways. And for God’s sake, who needs 500 brands of oatmeal anyway?

Sandybritches@yahoo.com

Fred Meyer opened his 1st store in Portland Or that had everthing under 1 roof in 1922, Went public in 1960 and could buy stock in it.
So it looks like wegsman followed Fred Meyers. I lke winn dixie myself and publix is good for their employees which are also the owners.

Thanks to Richmond TV stations because I got news about 2 Wegmans stores are going to Richmond from one of my Wegmans co-workers while waiting in line to punch in to start work at Wegmans in Buffalo, NY